The two constants with Pat Riley when it comes to team building are living in the moment but also seizing the right moment.

When it came to 2010 free agency, both of those moments aligned for the Miami Heat, so Riley dealt with results somewhat unbecoming his legacy in the interim and then pushed his cap space into the middle of the table, coming away with signed contracts from LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Smoke and bluster (and championships) ensued.

And then LeBron left in the 2014 offseason because of? A. The hometown lure. B. Unease of not always getting his way. C. A stronger Cleveland roster going forward. D. Mysterious reasons largely left to private conjecture.

No matter, he left and Riley moved on. And the ensuing move apparently centered on 2016 free agency, when the NBA salary cap would explode and the Heat would have a definitive read on their salary structure.

Or not.

Because here we are again, a year later, still uncertain of where Chris Bosh's career stands against tiny blood clots that again threaten his oversized future.

And that uncertainty goes directly to the Heat's free agency plans and when to strike.

Pat Riley talks about his pride in the annial Riley-Arison fundraiser.

Pat Riley talks about his pride in the annial Riley-Arison fundraiser.

Curiously, while discussing the Heat's future, in-the-moment-Riley hedged his bet. This was not all-in-Riley.

"You've got to really see the big picture in where you are," Riley said this past week in carefully scripted comments offered through the Heat's in-house media outlets. "From 2014 to this point, once LeBron left, we had some decisions to make. We had always been looking at 2016 and 2017. Just like back in 2006 we looked at 2010."

But that's the difference. As early as 2006, according to Riley, there was a single zero hour: July 1, 2010. Now two are being offered.

More Riley, again while working off the team-released script, "2016 and 2017 have become the new 2010."

Why? Because if Bosh has played his final NBA game, if his career clock instead becomes one toward enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame ahead of LeBron and Wade, then his salary would not come off the Heat's books until a year from such a declaration.

After 2016 free agency. But in plenty of time to jump all-in when it comes to 2017, when the lightning strike could be for the Thunder's Russell Westbrook instead of the Thunder's Durant, in arguably what would be a deeper free-agent class.

And that would make sense on many levels. It would allow the Heat to offer a one-year deal to the increasingly comfortable Luol Deng. It would allow Riley to offer one-year maximum-type deals to Wade and Hassan Whiteside. It would allow the Heat to formulate a future when Bosh's $25.3 million 2017-18 salary could be off the books, instead of with his $23.7 million 2016-17 salary still on the books.

Make no mistake, when Riley mentioned deferring the Heat free-agency plunge for a year it was not by mistake. While the rise in the cap will be significant this coming summer, another sizeable bump is expected for 2017, as well.

NBA free-agency long has been a lump-sum arrangement. You accrue, just as the Heat did in those years when moves could have otherwise been made in advance of 2010 free agency, and then you maximize every last dollar, like the ancillary moves the Heat made in 2010, including the follow-up addition of Mike Miller.

The last thing fans of any team want to hear is a plea for patience. Unless, of course, it comes from the maestro of makeovers.

At least now, there has been advance warning.

"What happens in '16 and '17, are the next two years of being able to build this team back to a championship contender," Riley said. "That's our goal. That's my goal. That's my desire."

And that very well could mean patience, an end-game potentially deferred for 12 months.

IN THE LANE

FLEETING MEMORIES: Brian Roberts, who was a member of the Heat for two days but not even one game before he was rerouted from the Charlotte Hornets to the Portland Trail Blazers, took time to reflect on his trade-deadline whirlwind with the Oregonian. "If you write a book, it's just one of those things you add to the book pretty much," the journeyman point guard said. "Go to Miami. I actually practiced with them, answered some questions . . . We're getting ready for the plane because we're supposed to head to Atlanta for the game tonight. I get a call. I'm sitting in the locker room after a shower. I get a call from my agent. He's like, 'You might not want to get on the plane just yet.' He was like, 'I think we're going to Portland.' I was like, 'Wow. Really?' He was like, 'Yeah. Just sit tight in the locker room and I'll finalize things just to make sure. But, for sure, I think you're going to Portland.' So I'm sitting in the locker room. I drove back to my apartment back in Miami. I spent the night there and got a 5:45 a.m. flight from Miami." A night later, Roberts scored seven points in five minutes in a dramatic Blazers victory over the Golden State Warriors, shooting 3 of 4 from the field.

NEXT STEP: When the Heat talk about possibly adding a player during the waning days of the regular season, keep an eye on guard Briante Weber, who currently is playing with their NBA Development League team, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. A year removed from a devastating knee injury at Virginia Commonwealth, Weber is being cast in a featured role with the Skyforce, now that veteran Tre Kelley has moved on to a larger contract in Turkey. Just this past week, Weber, a defensive pest in the mold of Patrick Beverley, had a triple-double against Fort Wayne and then came up one assist shy in the next game against Iowa. "He's quick. He's cat quick," said Heat Assistant General Manager Adam Simon, who also serves as general manager of the Skyforce. "He's not favoring [the knee] at all and is able to play like his old self. Just now he's getting more confidence, which is good." Weber still lacks the offensive package to make himself NBA complete, but signing him for the end of the season and then having his rights in the offseason makes sense for the draft-pick-deprived Heat. At the moment, Weber is free to be signed by any NBA team. "He's going to get an opportunity," Simon said. "Just where and when, we'll see."

THE RIGHT THING: In any other year, it is possible the Heat would have cycled through a variety of Skyforce players. But amid the Heat's season-long luxury-tax concerns, this hasn't been like any other year, with the Heat even bypassing partial camp guarantees to such prospects. But the Heat did take care of Kelley after the trading deadline by setting him free to pursue a larger overseas deal, rather than making him deal with the D-League's punitive escape payment. "Once we couldn't call him up, we tried to do something," Simon said. "We had gotten him to come to camp and got him to go to Sioux Falls, but once it wasn't going to happen, we waived him. We didn't want to hold him back." Forward Greg Whittington, however, remains in Sioux Falls and, like Weber, could be a player added in the waning days of the regular season, with roster spots still available.

BEEN THERE: Just as Heat players, even amid some of the team's uneven moments, have gotten past the talk of Pat Riley possibly returning as coach, so have the New York Knicks finished playing that game when it comes to Phil Jackson and his similar front-office role to the one Riley holds with the Heat. "He's not coming down. He's not sitting on that sideline," Carmelo Anthony told New York media this past week of Jackson, with the Knicks on Sunday night to host the Heat at Madison Square Garden. "Those days are long gone." Jackson is 70, Riley turns 71 next month.

NUMBER

Plus-57. The plus-minus rating for forward Rodney McGruder of the Heat's D-League affiliate in Wednesday's 123-74 victory over Fort Wayne.

iwinderman@tribune.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat or facebook.com/ira.winderman